The families of those sailors who died in the western Pacific when a fishing trawler sank have been offered compensation of one million roubles (US$18,600) by the Russian government.

Of the 42 Burmese sailors on the ship, 22 were rescued while 16 bodies were recovered. Four remain missing, presumed dead. The Dalny Vostok sank with 132 crew members aboard on 1 April off the Kamchatka peninsula in the Sea of Okhotsk.

The four missing sailors are identified as San Win Hlaing, Ko Ko Maung, Thet Swe and Thein Tun, according to the Burmese embassy in Moscow.

Twenty-two Burmese sailors who were rescued from the trawler have been taken to the town of Yuzhro Sakhalinsk in south eastern Russia, says the embassy.

The survivors were being provided with accommodation at the Pacific Plaza Hotel in Sakhalin.